This invention is related to systems of compression therapy, more particularly to pneumatic apparatuses for pressure treatment of edematous conditions.
For years it has been common practice to imitate the effects of manual massage by mechanical systems for medical treatments such as treatment of edemas, enhancement of venous return in the extremities, and other various therapies. These systems are commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cpneumatic compression therapyxe2x80x9d.
The commonly used type of such mechanical systems includes a pressure sleeve composed of air or hydraulic cells that can be inflated by various means, a control block with valves and a pressurized fluid source such as a compressor, a pump, or compressed air tank.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,923 to Mego Afek describes a pressure therapy system which is designed to exert air pressure in a so-called sequential cycle produced by means of an electromechanical distributor.
A hydraulic system for treating edema is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,610. A programmable control processor operates the valves and the pump of the system and monitors the pressure in the cells. The system can detect an edematous condition by measuring the pressure in prefilled cells. The control processor activates the pump and starts to inflate and deflate the compression cells in a sequential manner to create a wave of compression moving proximally along the extremity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,164 to World Inc. describes an apparatus for treating edema including a sleeve with a plurality of open-ended cells for holding inflatable replaceable bladders, a plurality of electrically operated valves, and a pump. A computer individually controls each valve to pressurize the bladders in variable sequence.
The existing compression systems apply various therapy sequences of cell (bladder) inflation-deflation, such as the peristaltic cycle, or maintain different pressures in a plurality of adjacent cells to obtain pressure gradient with the purpose to move or xe2x80x9csqueezexe2x80x9d stagnant bodily fluids proximally, starting each sequence from the most distal cell. However, if in the ailing lymphatic system there are pre-existing blockages, such as blockage of lymph nodes, a compression system may fail to drain the accumulated liquid.
An apparatus for applying pressure to a human body, according to the present invention, comprises a compression sleeve with a plurality of inflatable annular cells, a control block with pneumatic valves connected to the annular cells, and a pressurized fluid source connected to the control block, the sleeve having an axis, the annular cells being arranged along said axis, the most distal cell being designated by number 1, the most proximal cell being designated by number N, wherein the control block is preprogrammed to perform a regular therapy procedure starting by inflation of the most distal cell or group of cells, and a pre-therapy procedure preceding the regular therapy procedure and including a succession of cell inflation-deflation subcycles performed over a range of at least two adjacent cells, starting with an initial cell different from cell N, progressing towards and ending with cell N, the initial cell of the first subcycle being one of the most proximal one-third of cells, and the initial cell of each next subcycle having a number monotonously and gradually approaching 1.
The apparatus of the present invention is particularly advantageous for compression treatment of edematous conditions as it enables opening blockages of the ailing lymphatic system before initiating the regular pneumatic compression treatment. This is achieved by the control block being preprogrammed to precede the regular therapy procedure by the pre-therapy procedure including a series of compression waves with proximal direction, wherein the first waves originate in a cell near the proximal end of the sleeve and only gradually the initial cell of each successive wave of the series moves more and more distally.